


Bedtime Story

by dragyn42



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff, Slice of Life, blame discord
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-05-07
Packaged: 2020-02-27 14:31:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18740968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragyn42/pseuds/dragyn42
Summary: Bedtime for the Potter boys.





	Bedtime Story

**Author's Note:**

> I blame the Harry/Ginny discord server. Those involved know who they are. Shame on them all…

“Okay,” said Ginny as she entered the room. “Lily’s down. What about these two ruffians?”

The ruffians in question laughed loudly at her question, jumping and squirming in their beds, the blankets now a tangled mess around their bodies.

“Well, they’ve agreed to sleep as long as they get a bedtime story. Right, boys?” their father asked.

“Yes!” they agreed, the shouts dissolving into even more laughter.

“And, if they don’t go to sleep, they get no more stories, none of Grandma’s brownies tomorrow, and no broom lessons for a week,” said Harry, his grin belying his stern countenance and raised eyebrows at the admonition. “Right?”

“Yes!” the boys repeated, laughing, nearly identically to the previous time.

Ginny sat down on the night table directly next to the head of Albus’ bed, and also next to the comfy chair her husband sat in, between the two night tables.

“So, what story are we telling?” she asked.

“Get the treasure!” announced James.

“Okay, that good for you, Al?” asked Harry. At his his son’s giggling nod, Harry began, “Once upon a time…”

He was interrupted by yet more laughter. The boys were inevitably incapable of stopping. It always made bedtime an adventure.

“Come on now,” said Ginny. “Settle.”

The boys shifted around in their beds, tugging at the sheets. In time past, Ginny might have even helped them straighten it all out. But, for now, she was under no illusion anything she did would last more than five minutes, so, together with Harry, she waited for the pair to finish their struggles.

Once their movement had ceased, Harry began again. “Once upon a time, there was a great hero. Everyone knew the great hero, and would come to him when they needed help. Help against the bad people of the world.

“One day, the hero-”

“Poppin!” announced Albus.

“Wha… Who?” asked Harry.

“Poppin! Annie’s mum says the giggling boy is named Poppin!” said Albus seriously.

“Poppin’ Fresh,” said James, never shying away from correcting his brother. “He’s the doughboy from the telly.”

“Ah, okay then,” said Harry. They were referring to their neighbors, whose daughter Annie was the same age as them, and definitely a partner in crime. The trio were the terror of the neighborhood. As muggles, they also had a television, which the boys loved watching.

“So, Poppin’, was is?” As they shook their heads in the affirmative, he continued once again, “One day, Poppin’ was sitting in the cafe, enjoying his coffee, when a man came up to him. The man was clearly sad, and his shoulders hunched forward.”

Harry mimicked the posed from his chair, causing the boys to giggle.

“‘Excuse me, Mr. Fresh, sir,’ said the man, his voice papery and cracking.” Harry, of course, did his best interpretation of the man as he spoke. The boys were each lying on their sides, heads propped up on their pillows, staring wide eyed at their father.

“‘Yes?’ asked Poppin’.

“‘I’m afraid I need your help,’ said the man. ‘I don’t have much…’

“‘That’s quite okay,’ said Poppin’. ‘What can I do to help you?’

“‘A mean man, mean as they come, took something from me. I’m not a brave person, not like you, Mr. Fresh. I was wondering…’

“‘You were wondering if I could get it for you?’ asked our hero.

“The man shakily bowed his head, which Poppin’ took for a ‘yes,’ and so he asked, ‘Where is this mean man? I will certainly go and get back what he took from you!’

“‘He lives far away, Mr. Fresh. Far away. Over the oceans and mountains, through forests and deserts. I’m afraid you’ve signed up for a long journey.’

“But, Mr. Fresh was not to be deterred. He had promised to help this man, and so help him he would. ‘Where is this far away place you speak of?’ he asked.

“‘It’s bad place, known the world over as-’”

“Vagan!!” interrupted James.

“What?” asked Ginny.

“The United Vagan State,” said Albus, clearly agreeing with his brother.

“The Uni…” started Harry before it came to him. “Las Vegas?!”

“Yeah!” agreed the brothers.

Ginny just shook her head. “George and Angie’s last vacation. He must’ve been talking about it.”

“It’s got dragons and pirates and magical fountains. And everything’s run by bad people!” explained Albus.

“It’s even got a bad name,” said James.

“The Sin City,” whispered Albus, as if imparting an important secret.

“I’m going to shoot him,” mumbled Harry to his wife, who was currently shaking and struggling to her hold herself upright with clearly suppressed laughter.

“Poppin’ Fresh, famous hero, traveled over the ocean, and across the land. He froze summiting the giant mountains, and crawled through the sand and dust of the desert. And finally he reached it: the great, evil land of Las Vegas.

“Tall buildings of all fantastic shapes and sizes stood everywhere. In front of one, a magical fountain caused sprays and streams of water to splash in a choreographed dance of splendor, entrancing anyone who passed by. Just down the road, another building was guarded by a pirate ship! And anytime anyone, hero or villain, came too close, they would fire off their cannons, scaring away the trespassers and lighting the sky with sparkling colors.

“But those weren’t the buildings Poppin’ needed. No. Along his great journey, he had asked questions of the people he came across. Many an Auror had information for him. Stories of the mean man, and the things he took. Even the muggles knew all about him, and they helped our hero Poppin’, too.

“So, Poppin’ knew where he was going. And it wouldn’t be easy. But he was a great hero, and he would get the man’s treasure, as he promised. Walking down the strip of main road, he reached his target: a castle. Like any good castle, it had lots of round towers with colorful, pointed roofs.”

“Like Hogwarts?” asked James.

“Yes, Hogwarts has towers, too,” said Ginny. “Your dad and I lived in one for seven years.”

“And I will live in a tower?” asked Albus.

“Only if you’re a Gryffindor,” said James.

“That’s not true,” Harry corrected his son. “In fact, two of the houses live in towers. And two don’t. And it doesn’t matter if you live in a tower or not, does it?”

“No,” mumbled James.

“Okay, now, do you want to hear the rest of Poppin’s story?” asked Harry.

“Yes,” said both children, excited once more.

“Right, so, Poppin’ reached the castle. But there were a lot of people in the castle. Regular people. Innocent people. Just there because the the castle had rooms to sleep in, food to eat, and games to play. They weren’t the evil people. Poppin’ knew he couldn’t go in fighting and hurting everyone, that wouldn’t be right. A hero wouldn’t do that.

“Instead, Poppin’ came up with a different plan. Rather than fighting everyone, he would sneak in! That’s right. Poppin’ Fresh, world famous hero, would disguise himself and sneak in. He would find secret place the treasure was hidden and rescue it. Then, he would sneak back out! It was the perfect plan.”

“Maybe he could sneak out on a dragon!” offered Albus.

“That’s silly. How would you sneak out on a dragon?” asked James. “Uncle Charlie says they need lots and lots of wizards to control one dragon. And they’re very big. There’s no way someone as small as Poppin’ Fresh could even get near a dragon!”

An extremely unhelpful Ginny was currently trying, and failing, to hold back her laughter, which was making itself known through a series of snorts.

“Are you okay, Mum?” asked James.

The question didn’t help.

“Shut it,” said Harry, quietly, to his wife. “Besides, we didn’t exactly sneak out, now did we?”

“What, Dad?” asked James.

“Nothing,” replied Harry. “Maybe he could, Albus. But first, he had to find the treasure.

“Now in disguise, Poppin’ walked through the front entrance of the castle, unrecognized. He made his way through the great entryway, to the large game rooms just inside. There were games as far as the eye could see, and everywhere he looked, people were spinning wheels, and throwing things on the tables. There were flashing lights everywhere: little dots on the wall, giant beams, and mirrored reflections of all the colors all over the room. And there were sounds, and music, and bells, and cheering.

“These people, just having fun, were the ones he couldn’t hurt. The mean man might own the castle, and he might steal things, but these people had done nothing wrong.

“So, Poppin’ went past all the games. He found a doorway into another part of the castle. The hallways were brightly lit. People with uniforms were rushing everywhere, pushing carts, carrying trays. A couple had clipboards an were talking to each other about the games.

“Occasionally, Poppin’ would see a person in a different uniform, one with a badge, and he knew he needed to hide. It wasn’t that he was doing something wrong, (he was only rescuing a stolen treasure, after all,) but these people worked for the mean man, and he knew they would try to stop him.

“He wandered around the veritable maze of hallways, avoiding as many of the bad people as he could. He went up some stairs, and down other. Sometimes he turned left, and other times he turned right. But after a very long time of searching, he finally found it. A large door, round, and metal thick as your beds. This was the door used to hide things.

“Inside, the room had a shiny, marble floor. The walls were filled with metal drawers. And there were piles of money everywhere. But, in the middle of the room, was a table.

“Poppin’ had finally found it. A box, right in the middle of the table. And the mean man was obviously proud of the box, because lights shone on it, making the box the star of the table. Poppin’ crossed the room, and reached over the table. He grabbed the lid of the box, pulled it off, and inside was the treasure he had come for.”

“Brownies!” both boys suddenly yelled out. Once more, the bedroom, which had been so quiet as the boys listened with great attention, was filled with laughter.

“Okay, that’s it, I’m done,” said Harry, standing up from his cushy chair. “Go to sleep, you rapscallions.”

Ginny likewise hopped up from her seat, leaning over to kiss Albus while Harry laid his kiss on James’ brow. They swapped, repeated, and tucked in the boys as best they could with the twisted, tangled fabric that were supposed to be their sheets.

The boys continued laughing as their parents left the room, leaving the door ajar behind them, open enough to hear any trouble they might cause, but closed enough to prevent them from waking their sister. As they made their way down the hall to their own bedroom, they could only be grateful that there were no sounds of toys, or worse, bodies, being thrown.

“Your brother is not allowed to watch them unsupervised anymore,” commented Harry.

“Eh,” was Ginny’s non-committal reply. It wasn’t a threat either of them hadn’t made before. Somehow, George still ended up looking after the kids.

“There is a problem, though,” said Harry.

“Oh?”

“Now I want brownies.”

The couple stopped their short trek down the hallway and gazed at each other, briefly. Then, without speaking, as one, they changed directions and swiftly made for their kitchen. Molly’s brownies were waiting.


End file.
